Stan recently made a video on how CTE handles throw with soft vs hard hits. Since he has sworn off AZ, at least for now, mohrt posted up the video, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFrpI-5rKbM&t=6s
I thought this video was an important breakthrough for those of us interested in the nuts and bolts of CTE Pro1 by Stan Shuffett. The question has been asked for years about how CTE is able to put balls into center pocket even at different speeds where throw changes. There has never been an actual answer provided. It has always been along the lines of "CTE provides an overcut which puts the ball in center pocket." Yeah, but what happens when you hit soft vs hard? It can't go center pocket both times, can it? "CTE is a visual system that overcuts the ball. If you had been using CTE for several months you would understand." Then followed by some insults.
Anyway, not to dwell on the negative. For those who want to understand how CTE Pro1 works from a more technical level, the video above is almost like the rosetta stone. It reveals that the inventor of the method does not put the ball into center pocket at varying speeds. In fact, he seems to be completely unaware that throw is affecting his shot. My follow up video covers this, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zjQoNfXcck&feature=youtu.be
So what do we learn from this video? For one, it says that for a given shot, the player using CTE MUST adjust his shot depending on the speed required. It seems clear to me that this should be added to the instructional materials. How many times do we see new CTE Pro1 users posting that it works sometimes and not others? This could be one reason why.
The video also shows us that CTE is not an objective aiming system as advertised so boldly. If we took the object ball in Stan's video and moved it near the rail, and moved the cue ball so it was at the same angle, it would be virtually impossible to pocket the ball at slow and hard speed with the exact same CTE "ETA" perception. It would require an aiming adjustment based on experience and feel to be able to pocket both shots.
My main interest in CTE has been to try and figure out how Stan is able to pocket balls at different angles with the same perception, ever since ENGLISH! put me on to the first video below. Stan calls it the "mystery" that "was not supposed to be." For those of you not up to speed, this is shown here and here:
https://youtu.be/-1Psy5hOJT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIFI6K_nNhE
We still do not have proof of what is really happening during the stroke (as we cannot get inside the player's head to really know), and unfortunately CTE supporters do not provide any helpful information (saying "it's been explained to you a dozen times already" does not count as advancing our understanding).
Even so, I think the "throw" video that Stan just provided gives us a working hypothesis. If Stan can shoot two identical shots from just over two diamonds away, and not be aware that the object ball is throwing a full inch apart, then it is entirely plausible that he is also making adjustments that he is not aware of in order to pocket balls at different angles with the same perception (the "mystery" shot). To me, this is the crux of the CTE debates and outright fights for the last 20 years, and I think this current discussion puts a new light on what might be really happening.
To put it another way, let's review "Occam's Razor," the simpler explanation is probably better. Let's consider two competing explanations:
1. In CTE Pro1 balls can be pocketed from various angles with THE SAME PERCEPTION (ie, CTE/ETA) because the 2x1 dimension of the table, and the location of the pockets at the intersection of right angles, CAUSES a mysterious phenomenon where the object ball goes automatically to the pocket without ANY subjective decisions from the shooter.
or
2. CTE Pro1 instructions get the shooter in the general vicinity of pocketing the ball, and it is left up to the shooter to subconsciously make small adjustments to pocket the ball through rote practice.
Which is the simpler explanation? Does it work for some reason that even Stan has been unable to explain for 10 years, or does it work because the shooter is tweaking the aim either during setup or during the stroke? We know that Stan tweaked his shot in the most recent video because when he hits the shot softly it goes center pocket. In ALL of his other videos he hits the ball hard and it goes center pocket. Throw will not allow this to happen unless an aiming adjustment is made, so Stan HAD TO aim differently from his norm when shooting softly (the soft shot could possibly throw the exact same amount as Stan's normal warp speed stun shot, but someone would have to demonstrate that for me to buy it). Because of this evidence, and not solely Occam's razor, I lean heavily on option 2. (There are numerous other bits of circumstantial evidence that option 2 is correct. For example, it takes many CTE users months to become proficient at which time they say something just "clicks" and they make more balls. What is happening is that they are learning the fine adjustments, or tweaks. But, that is probably a story for a different post.)
I realize this may come across as an "attack" post but it is anything but that. It is an attempt to resolve a 20 year dispute with actual data provided by Stan and make future discussion more productive and useful for new players trying to improve. I'm not saying that some players don't benefit from CTE and report that they play better. I'm saying that it is not an objective system and there are no "mysteries" that "were not supposed to be."
I know there will be attacks on this post and attempts to have it, or me, banned, but given those caveats I hope this will get some people thinking and sharing their constructive ideas in this thread so others can benefit. Much of what I wrote in this post is what others have been talking about for a long time, but we had no solid evidence other than logic to make our point. Stan's new video gives us concrete evidence to help end the debate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFrpI-5rKbM&t=6s
I thought this video was an important breakthrough for those of us interested in the nuts and bolts of CTE Pro1 by Stan Shuffett. The question has been asked for years about how CTE is able to put balls into center pocket even at different speeds where throw changes. There has never been an actual answer provided. It has always been along the lines of "CTE provides an overcut which puts the ball in center pocket." Yeah, but what happens when you hit soft vs hard? It can't go center pocket both times, can it? "CTE is a visual system that overcuts the ball. If you had been using CTE for several months you would understand." Then followed by some insults.
Anyway, not to dwell on the negative. For those who want to understand how CTE Pro1 works from a more technical level, the video above is almost like the rosetta stone. It reveals that the inventor of the method does not put the ball into center pocket at varying speeds. In fact, he seems to be completely unaware that throw is affecting his shot. My follow up video covers this, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zjQoNfXcck&feature=youtu.be
So what do we learn from this video? For one, it says that for a given shot, the player using CTE MUST adjust his shot depending on the speed required. It seems clear to me that this should be added to the instructional materials. How many times do we see new CTE Pro1 users posting that it works sometimes and not others? This could be one reason why.
The video also shows us that CTE is not an objective aiming system as advertised so boldly. If we took the object ball in Stan's video and moved it near the rail, and moved the cue ball so it was at the same angle, it would be virtually impossible to pocket the ball at slow and hard speed with the exact same CTE "ETA" perception. It would require an aiming adjustment based on experience and feel to be able to pocket both shots.
My main interest in CTE has been to try and figure out how Stan is able to pocket balls at different angles with the same perception, ever since ENGLISH! put me on to the first video below. Stan calls it the "mystery" that "was not supposed to be." For those of you not up to speed, this is shown here and here:
https://youtu.be/-1Psy5hOJT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIFI6K_nNhE
We still do not have proof of what is really happening during the stroke (as we cannot get inside the player's head to really know), and unfortunately CTE supporters do not provide any helpful information (saying "it's been explained to you a dozen times already" does not count as advancing our understanding).
Even so, I think the "throw" video that Stan just provided gives us a working hypothesis. If Stan can shoot two identical shots from just over two diamonds away, and not be aware that the object ball is throwing a full inch apart, then it is entirely plausible that he is also making adjustments that he is not aware of in order to pocket balls at different angles with the same perception (the "mystery" shot). To me, this is the crux of the CTE debates and outright fights for the last 20 years, and I think this current discussion puts a new light on what might be really happening.
To put it another way, let's review "Occam's Razor," the simpler explanation is probably better. Let's consider two competing explanations:
1. In CTE Pro1 balls can be pocketed from various angles with THE SAME PERCEPTION (ie, CTE/ETA) because the 2x1 dimension of the table, and the location of the pockets at the intersection of right angles, CAUSES a mysterious phenomenon where the object ball goes automatically to the pocket without ANY subjective decisions from the shooter.
or
2. CTE Pro1 instructions get the shooter in the general vicinity of pocketing the ball, and it is left up to the shooter to subconsciously make small adjustments to pocket the ball through rote practice.
Which is the simpler explanation? Does it work for some reason that even Stan has been unable to explain for 10 years, or does it work because the shooter is tweaking the aim either during setup or during the stroke? We know that Stan tweaked his shot in the most recent video because when he hits the shot softly it goes center pocket. In ALL of his other videos he hits the ball hard and it goes center pocket. Throw will not allow this to happen unless an aiming adjustment is made, so Stan HAD TO aim differently from his norm when shooting softly (the soft shot could possibly throw the exact same amount as Stan's normal warp speed stun shot, but someone would have to demonstrate that for me to buy it). Because of this evidence, and not solely Occam's razor, I lean heavily on option 2. (There are numerous other bits of circumstantial evidence that option 2 is correct. For example, it takes many CTE users months to become proficient at which time they say something just "clicks" and they make more balls. What is happening is that they are learning the fine adjustments, or tweaks. But, that is probably a story for a different post.)
I realize this may come across as an "attack" post but it is anything but that. It is an attempt to resolve a 20 year dispute with actual data provided by Stan and make future discussion more productive and useful for new players trying to improve. I'm not saying that some players don't benefit from CTE and report that they play better. I'm saying that it is not an objective system and there are no "mysteries" that "were not supposed to be."
I know there will be attacks on this post and attempts to have it, or me, banned, but given those caveats I hope this will get some people thinking and sharing their constructive ideas in this thread so others can benefit. Much of what I wrote in this post is what others have been talking about for a long time, but we had no solid evidence other than logic to make our point. Stan's new video gives us concrete evidence to help end the debate.